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Black Housing, White Finance: African American Housing And Home Ownership In Evanston, Illinois, Before 1940 - Statistical Data Included

Journal of Social History, Winter, 1999 by Andrew Wiese

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Beyond public philanthropy, private paternalism was also commonplace in Evanston. Within the realm of domestic service, white employers made gifts to the men and women who worked for them, including second hand clothing, furniture, household supplies, and even food during harder times. [72] Many Evanston whites also prided themselves on living in a community without any race problem." Like these private acts of charity, mortgage lending in west Evanston promoted the welfare of the black community. At the same time, it muted potential conflict and enhanced white feelings of benevolence (and superiority). [73] Last but not least, it also served to re-enforce racial segregation in the suburb.

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By investing in new housing and supporting black home buying in neighborhoods west of the tracks, Evanston's real estate establishment succeeded in doing what white realtors failed to do in Chicago. They established segregation while (and by) expanding the supply of housing available to black Evanstonians. In Chicago, Thomas Philpott illustrates, white realtors hoped to prevent black neighborhood expansion during the 1910s and 1920s by building "decent homes ... for colored people in a section which is congenial to them." [74] 'Congenial' in this instance meant within existing black neighborhoods. Black Chicagoans also lent support to the idea, although they did so for different reasons. While whites focused on preserving segregation, African Americans emphasized the need for more and better housing. Largely as a result of these differences, this "dual solution" to the black housing crisis ultimately failed. After a decade of rhetoric, the only project to materialize was the 421-unit Rosenwald Gardens Apartm ents, which opened in 1929. Compared to the needs of Chicago's black population, which mushroomed by 190,000 between 1915 and 1930, separate home building for African Americans was a drop in the bucket. [75] In contrast, Evanston's smaller size and population growth allowed greater results. Whether or not white Evanstonians followed the reasoning of their Chicago peers explicitly (some certainly would have been aware of it), new housing accommodated as much as half of black population growth in Evanston during the Great Migration. [76]

Although whites clearly held the upper hand in Evanston, there were limits to their power. Like white realtors and officials in Chicago, white Evanstonians resorted to segregation in large part because they could not stop African American migration to their community. Once black pioneers had driven a wedge of settlement, and as long as there was a demand for black labor, white Evanstonians had limited means to arrest black migration, even if they had wanted to. Events in Chicago demonstrated that even violence was largely ineffective in stemming the expansion of black neighborhoods where whites were leaving and housing was affordable. A second option white officials might have adopted was to enforce building and sanitary codes more strictly (and prejudicially) on the west side. Although this strategy might have limited new home building and kept African Americans bottled up near the railroad tracks, it wouldn't have prevented some whites from selling or renting to people like Cora Watson, who had the money a nd the nerve to break the color line. Given these realities, white Evanstonians worked to control and contain a social movement they couldn't stop.

Black Housing, White Finance: African American Housing And Home Ownership In Evanston, Illinois, Before 1940 - Statistical Data Included

Journal of Social History, Winter, 1999 by Andrew Wiese

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